"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature...Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world."
Ezra Taft Benson

Jun 28, 2012

"I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance...
Now I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go. Our lives are better left to chance.I could have missed the pain. But I'd of had to miss the dance."

aaand

Katy Perry's Wide Awake says,

"I wish I knew then what I know now. Wouldn't dive in, wouldn't bow down.
Gravity hurts, you made it so sweet, til I woke up on the concrete. Falling from cloud nine....God knows that I tried seeing the bright side. But I'm not blind anymore...I'm wide awake."

Hmmm.

We can't stop dancing cuz we are scared of the pain. But it can be scary when you see many people who are wide awake!

Which reminds me of another thought going through my mind lately...where is the line between self-advocacy and selfishness?

Jun 18, 2012

Found that out for sure last summer, meeting some amazing kids in Ukraine.

I've been waiting to have the pictures to back up this blog post for awhile, so I'm very excited!

I know these won't mean as much to you, but bear with me as I share a ton of pictures that make my heart melt!

First arriving at the orphanage, they were running sack races. I joined in the cheering and got a kiss blown at me!

On the tour, some of the bedrooms.

The boy on the right is, without a doubt, the sweetest guy I have ever met in my life.

Punching balloons!

For once in my life, being terrible at frisbee came in handy..they sure got a kick out of it :)

:) :)

The "gatekeeper" who would always greet us!

Our daily lunch

Parachute!

The orphanage

The kids liked to take over as photographer (and yes, my camera survived ha)

Love him. Such a sweetie!

Bubbles!

See-saw

:) :)
(Smileys faces are the real caption for all of these pictures I decided ha)

! :)

More bubbles!

Man! Can I tell you how awesome these guys are??

He always reminded me of someone, but I couldn't quite place it!

Posing :)

Yeah...that is how bad I am at frisbee...haha ok, not my fault, but still

:) :)

Watching from the window when we came the second day

<3

10 year old sweetheart

They all helped take care of each other!

Stretching out in the sunshine

Ah! Such a sweet guy! (Is there an echo?)

Made friends with the handymen ;)

Showing off their pets :)

This kid was so great at English! Way better than my Russian for sure. Our conversations took many gestures ha, but were quite fun

Pals :)

How they were learning English

Showing me their artwork

Up high! Down low!

New artwork! :)

We drew for a long time ha

He gave me a flower! :)

Wanted a picture taken..

..Told him to pose; you know me; I can't accept a completely normal picture :)

Showing off their muscles :)

So sad saying goodbye to him :(

More animals!

They drew pictures :)

And, finally, heading out the gate. Something I REALLY hated doing.

So...I'm looking for this cool thing where two far away places can suddenly become super close without costing any money. If anybody has any breakthroughs, keep me posted. Cuz I quite miss these kids! Just a few short days with them, but they still make my whole heart smile!